A new corridor plan would extend Old Town east across Jefferson Street, into an area home to Odell Brewing Co. and Woodward's new corporate headquarters.

Jan. 22, 2014

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This view shows what a pedestrian and food truck area would look like on Lincoln Avenue. The city of Fort Collins is working on a development plan for the Lincoln corridor to improve the street and intersections and add sidewalks, bike lanes, pedestrian areas and landscaping to help it serve as a gateway to Old Town. / Courtesy of the city of Fort Collins

What’s next?

• The city of Fort Collins will host an open house on the Lincoln Corridor from 4:30-7 p.m. Thursday, at the Streets Facility Training Room, 625 Ninth St., on the southwest corner of Vine Drive and Lemay Avenue. • City Council is scheduled to hold a work session on the plan Tuesday. • To take a survey on the plan, visit www.fcgov.com/lincoln before Jan. 31.

Traffic volumes

Willow Street to First Street• Existing: 5,965 vehicles per day • Estimated 2035: 9,000 Third Street to Lemay Avenue• Existing: 8,780 vehicles per day • Estimated 2035: 12,400 Source: City of Fort Collins

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On a short stretch of road — less than a mile — lies the best of Fort Collins’ past and the promise of its future.

This is Lincoln Avenue, three-quarters of a mile of pavement between Jefferson Street and Lemay Avenue that houses some of the city’s oldest and newest businesses, along with its earliest and most historic neighborhoods. The Poudre River meanders under a street flanked by a popular trail and open space on one side and homes built perilously close on the other. And the largest remaining undeveloped site on the corridor is ready for a makeover.

Developing Lincoln Avenue is part of the city’s plan to extend Old Town across Jefferson Street/Riverside Avenue and into the Lincoln Triangle, home to three popular breweries.

Lincoln Avenue, which houses Odell Brewing Co. and Fort Collins Brewery, runs along the former Link-N-Greens golf course. As Woodward Inc., redevelops the site into a major employment center with up to 1,700 workers, it will transform how the street functions, according to city officials. Though dressing up the area has long been on the city’s wish list, now, thanks to Woodward’s project, is the time to get it done, they say. And, they’re getting close to a final plan to make that happen.

The public process of defining and refining a Lincoln Corridor Plan is expected to finish in March with City Council adopting a proposal that could include street and intersection improvements, sidewalks, benches, bike lanes, landscaping, gateway features, bus circulation around downtown, directional signage, art and other projects.

See artist renderings of the design and streetscape amenities up close by clicking on the related links at left.

The public will get one of its last chances to comment on a development plan during an open house from 4:30-7 p.m. Thursday at the Streets Facility Training Room, 625 Ninth St. An online survey will be posted at www.fcgov.com/lincoln until Jan. 31.

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“The corridor is still lacking a cohesive identity and specific steps for improvement and change,” the city says on its website dedicated to Lincoln Avenue.

Changing that became a priority when, through an ongoing process to collect public input, the city found “support for the street acting as an important gateway for not only downtown and the East Mulberry Corridor,” said Pete Wray, senior city planner.

A costly vision

As it stands — city officials caution the preferred plan has not been finalized — rebuilding the .75-mile stretch would cost roughly $19 million, including $3 million to replace the Lincoln Bridge, said Amy Lewin, transportation planner.

The Lincoln Bridge was last inspected in 2013 and was rated functionally obsolete because it does not meet the two-lane arterial standard and has substandard bike lanes and sidewalks, city staff say.

A look at drawings of the Lincoln Corridor plan show tree-lined street buffers and medians, additional bus strops, potential new neighborhood sidewalks, special event food truck parking near Odell and new stone bridge overlooks for pedestrians to sit by the river.

As the area continues to grow into an active pedestrian-oriented street environment, “we not only want to make sure it’s safe and comfortable for motorists, but (also) bikes and pedestrians and transit users,” Wray said. On-street parking will be expanded to provide access and act as a traffic calming feature.

Steve Price, owner of Auto Collision Experts, 900 E. Lincoln Ave., said from what he can tell the plan is all “plus, plus. As far as the look and feel it all looks great to me as long as it’s functional for the existing businesses here.”

He wants to ensure the city preserves the industrial nature of the corridor and access to the businesses, many of which get regular deliveries from large semi-trucks. That’s a message the city heard loud and clear, Wray said.

“Everyone loves the breweries but there are other good businesses here that bring value to the city,” Price said. “Hopefully they’re not trying to run them off.”

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The plan will likely bring more traffic to Lincoln as well, he said. “Hopefully it is able to handle that and we won’t have a traffic nightmare.”

Paying the price

How to pay for the project is still up in the air, but funding could come from a number of sources, including the city’s next round of Building on Basics or Keep Fort Collins Great tax initiatives, Lewin said.

The next round of funding for Building on Basics will likely be on the April 2015 ballot, but a 0.85 percent sales tax to fund basic city services under the name Keep Fort Collins Great runs through 2020.

The city also plans to look for ways to pay for neighborhood projects such as sidewalks, curbs and gutters that residents of the Buckingham, Alta Vista and Andersonville neighborhoods have long sought.

Improving Lincoln Avenue without providing more amenities for residents will not fly, said Betty Aragon, spokeswoman for the three neighborhoods.

“It’s a real slap in the face to the people of Buckingham, Alta Vista and Andersonville,” she said. “We’ve asked for things a long time ago and for (the city) to find money to do this development on Lincoln, and the people over in Andersonville still don’t have the things they’ve asked for for a long time.”

The area lacks sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and adequate lighting, said Aragon, who worries development is already gentrifying the Buckingham neighborhood. “The new people moving in want to remodel and I understand that, but it causes real problems for folks who have lived there for generations because it was affordable.”

Property taxes have gone up, she said, making it difficult for people living on fixed incomes. “We still have a lot of old timers who have been there for generations who are telling me they’re struggling.”

The Lincoln Corridor plan will accomplish two things, Aragon said: It will gentrify the neighborhood and increase traffic cutting through to get from one brewery to the other. “They should create a route ... and create a pathway to the breweries so they’re taking into consideration the privacy of the neighborhood.”

Preserving the neighborhood’s privacy could be as simple as creating signs that ask people to respect the neighborhood, like the city has done on the Spring Creek Trail when it closes in on neighborhoods, Wray said. “We know the area will be growing in popularity with the historic neighborhood in the middle. We’ve heard lots of concern about the impacts of everything from increased traffic on Lincoln to increased activity.”

Today, the road handles between 6,000 and 8,000 cars per day, but that could rise substantially as Woodward opens and the area develops.

Estimated traffic volumes from Third Street to Lemay in 2035 are projected to be more than 12,000 vehicles per day, Lewin said.